Filling Time: TwinLife Empty-Nesting

My Nana loved baseball. When I visited her house as a child, the sounds of the Baltimore Orioles filled the air, sometimes coming from the TV, but more often than not from her small, portable radio with its big black dials. At night the voices of the announcers, full of static, lulled me to sleep as I stared at a shrine of Orioles memorabilia on the shelf in the guest room. A signed baseball, a pennant, an orange and black pom-pom, and a Cabbage Patch doll in a Baltimore uniform all testified to the fact that my Nana was a true fan. She loved the Orioles and her “sons” (as my mom called them), Rick Dempsey and Cal Ripken, and she also loved the game.

Because my parents did not follow professional sports, it was Nana who took me to my first baseball game, where the nine-year-old in me sat, bored by the rain delay and the incessant “removal and replacement of the tarp” on the field. That game ended after several interminable hours in an unimpressive 1-0 score, and it would be nearly two decades until I attended another game. My personal apathy, however, never deterred Nana from talking to me about baseball, and I learned a lot from her that eventually led to my watching Cal Ripken, Jr. break Lou Gherig’s record for consecutive games played with my college boyfriend. A few years later I married that boy, and I became a Mets fan by association.

My husband adopted the Mets in the 1980s, the heyday of Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and a slew of other great players. Like my Nana, my husband was (and is) a true fan – of the team and also of the game. I often joke that anyone who is a Mets fan is actually a true baseball fan; you must love the sport to be disappointed year after year after year and still come back to cheer the team (IYKYK).

I joined the club in the mid-2000s when another round of great players made it fun to watch the game. Wright, Reyes, Beltran, and Delgado kept me company during a summer of bedrest at the beginning of TwinLife, and even though the Mets ended in an incredible collapse that year, I crossed over into true fandom. My son is now carrying the torch, and watching the Mets is a family affair. My husband and I even trekked into Queens to see a game during our very first weekend of FillingTime as empty-nesters.

Because we are fans, when I learned that Gary, Keith and Ron, the great announcers for the Mets, would be speaking in our area, I bought tickets. I figured it would be a great way to fill time. And it was.

For a little over an hour, we listened to them share stories about the Mets. Their lives as Mets players and announcers paralleled my husband’s fandom, as well as my own. We laughed at their sibling-like relationship, reminisced alongside them, and I even teared up a bit when they described moments – like Santana’s no hitter – that were important in my family’s history. They were honest, down-to-earth, and joyful, and it made being an insufferable Mets fan simply Amazin’.

I know that the Mets will be part of FillingTime for years to come. I’m sure my Nana is smiling down at me. I know she would be pleased I turned into a baseball fan, and I know she would be elated that I root against the Yankees — just like she did!